Sunday, July 7, 2013

A secret war has waged
underneath the notice of humanity since the beginning. The Warriors inherited
this fight and are honor bound to rid the world of an ancient evil by guarding
the most precious, piercing light against the darkness - their female kin known
as the Oracles.

Chantal Breelan has suffered
from horrific nightmares for most of her life, believing something to be wrong
with her to have such visions of destruction. But when creatures of darkness
came crawling out of the shadows to hunt her down, her dreams became reality.

Now, Chantal has picked up the
reigns of her birthright and stood by her Warrior kin. She’s on a mission to
rescue others like herself. Yet in this challenge a battle of wits is exposed.
New players are discovered, throwing strategies into question. When the truth
comes to light, can Chantal hold her band of brothers together, or will they
crumble under the weight of betrayal.

“Yeah, no
thanks.” Chantal laughed. “But if you both survive, tell my brother, Damon, I
said hi.”

“It is
her, Merc!” Bubba pointed at her like a bona fide moron. Chantal smiled at them
and bowed low with their arms held wide.

“The
oldest known Oracle at your service.”

Both men
began walking toward her slowly, pulling their own weapons from beneath their
jackets. Bubba held a stumpy blade with a square tip and gnarly looking saw
tooth edges. Merclain clutched a curved sword Chantal had seen in that movie
about the Spartans with half-naked men. She didn’t pay much attention to the
plot, much to Mathias’s annoyance. In any case, neither of their weapons held a
candle to her lightweight katana, and she fingered the well-suited hilt with a
familiarity that felt almost cathartic.

“Let’s
get her, Merc!”

“Oh, come
now. Do you really think I’m that stupid?” The men split up, trying to approach
her at both sides. “Do I look like I’m stupid?” Merclain and Bubba stayed
silent, assessing. “I’ll tell you what, let’s make a deal. If you two morons
can defeat me, I’ll go with you. That no-good brother of mine will love you
both. Throw you a parade or something.” The two men exchanged a loaded glance,
and Bubba smiled like he’d won the lottery. “But, if I kick both of your pansy
asses . . . well . . . I guess that’s just an overall win for me.”

“That
doesn’t seem like a fair trade, my dear.” Merclain now stood five feet away,
Bubba cutting off any escape to her right.

“It
doesn’t seem like you boys are into equality.” Chantal pushed off the headstone
and took a couple steps toward them. “Two grown men against helpless little
girls. Let’s just say I’m evening the odds.”

“You think you can take both of us?” Bubba
guffawed, his belly shaking like pudding. Chantal smiled wickedly.

“Absolutely.”

In the blink of an eye, the fight had been
won, yet to Chantal, she could see it precisely as if it had been
choreographed.

The attack came at her quick from the back
and the front simultaneously. Merclain brought his scimitar down toward her
head with a vicious swing. Chantal blocked the hit and countered it with an
aggressive twist of her wrist, dispelling the weapon. In a flash, she spun on
her heel and went down on bended knee, slicing her sword horizontally across
both of Bubba’s shins as he tried to grab her from behind, amputating both legs
below the knee. Bubba fell and clutched at the gushing wounds, his weapons
clattering to the ground. Chantal spun back to Merclain just as he attempted to
strike and plunged her blade deep into his ribs. Eyes rounded with shock, the
oddly thin solider fell to the ground and dark crimson fluid bubbled from his
mouth.

“You see?” Chantal gripped her sword and
wiped her brow, smearing a streak of blood across her face. “Now that’s how you
be cocky.”

Adrenaline
zinged through her system but the red haze of rage she’d experienced with her
first fight with the Kajola hadn’t appeared. Looking at both of her victims
writhing on the ground from their mortal wounds, Chantal sheathed her blade,
confident they were unable to come after her.

Merclain laughed, more a gurgling wheeze, and
pointed to something behind her. Chantal turned to see the orange sun setting
behind the horizon. The Shade would open at dusk and Chantal’s heart clenched
in panic.

0
comments:

Post a Comment

A Lovely Addiction

We are avid readers who will give an honest opinion about the books we read. Committed to retaining quality literature for others to devour, we look for originality, thought-provoking, and entertaining tales. Entertainers at heart, we admire those who can spin a story with riveting detail, intrigue, and spice.